Positive case emptying device for cartridge disassembling machines



1951 F. E. COSTELLO' 2,565, 74

POSITIVE CASE- EMPTYING DEVICE FOR CARTRIDGE DISASSEMBLING MACHINESFiled April 22, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet l g JNVENTOR.

1E FRANK E. COSTELLO. Q l k u". H: 9' 33 R TTORNEYS.

Aug. 28, 1951 F. E. COSTELLO 2,565,474

7 POSITIVE CASE EMPTYING DEVICE FOR I CARTRIDGE DISASSEMBLING MACHINESFiled April 22, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 o KS) INVENTOR. FRANK E. COSTELLO.BY

ORNEYS.

Fig. 2.

Patented Aug. 28, 1951 POSITIVE CASE EMPTYING DEVICE FOR; CARTRIDGEDISASSEMBLING Frank E. Costello, Philadelphia,-P a. AppIication'AprilZZ,1949,-Serial No'.'89,074 1; Claims. (cree -.1). (Granted under the actor "March 3, 1883, as

The inventionclescribed herein may be manufactured by and-usedby oriforthe'Government for governmentalpurposes without the payment .ponentparts which essentially are: .a "bullet, a

cartridge case, and a .charge of propellent powder.

'This invention i s-an improvement on or an addition to those-disclosedin my U. S. Patent 2,349,248 grantedMay 23, 1944, and in my U. S;

Patent 2,449,059 granted September 14, 1948.

It is an object'of this invention to provide, in a machine forseparating bullets from cartridge .cases and for emptying those cases ofpropellent powder charges contained therein, mechanism for assuringpositive andcomplete emptying of the powder from all the cartridges sodisassembled.

Itis a further object; of this invention to provide a machine "fordisassembling cartridges which will assure that when the component partsthereof are disassociated no propellent powder will remain-in thecasesor will'be mixed with the separated cases in the receptacle providedtherefor.

It is a still further object of this invention to eliminate the safetyhazard which results when the casesfrom disassembled cartridges are notentirely drained of propellentpowder, as a result of which subsequenthandling of the cases could result in injury to operator personnelthrough unexpected detonation of the residual propellent charge.

An additional object of this invention is to increase the speed anddecrease the labor with which cartridges may be so disassembled.

These objects and others, which willbe readily apparent to those skilled.in 'the art, may be learned from a consideration of the annexeddrawings and specification which contain a full description-of oneembodiment of this invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 isa top or plan View. of my improvements in a cartridgedisassembling machine;

Fig. 2 .is a side view taken from line '2 2 of Fig. land-on an enlargedscale;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a section taken from line44 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken from line .5-5 of Fig. 2.

One embodiment of my present improvements "amended Alflil 30, 1928; 370O. G. 757) in a cartridge disassembling machine which I have chosen forillustration in the drawings and description in the specification'is asfollows:

The cartridge disassembling machine shown in my prior Patent 2,349,248includes the followin elements: (1) A frame of table A which forms asupport for parts of the machine. (2 A feeding mechanism B on-which thecartridges to be disassembled or separated into their component partsare placed by hand. (3) A conveyor'C in the form of a disc'having anotched or grooved edge into which the cartridges are fed in a verticalposition and aroundthe perimeter of which the cartridges are conveyed'bythe rotation of the conveyor. (4) A bullet pulling mechanism D whichpulls or lifts the bullet or projectile (not shown) from a cartridgecase -(5). A bullet discharge mechanism E including a'hopper orbin'33into which the pulled or extracted-bullets fall. (6) A discharge station.F intojwhich the cartridge cases (from which the bullets have beenremoved) are toppled'upside down or with their open ends lowermost sothat the powder charge will tend to ran out of the cases as they areconveyed along the chute as which forms .part of the discharge station.

My present improvements to the just described cartridge disassemblingmachine, by virtue of which theobjects earlier set forth are achieved,are as follows:

A pair of vertical supports 6!) and GI, spaced as shown in Fig. 2, aresecured to the machines 'lo'wer frameiplate 16 by means of screws 63 anddowel pins 64. These supports carry a pair or helica'lly groovedconveyor rolls666l mounted as. shown inFig. 2 insuita'ble'bushings 68therefor. The. groove in roll'fi'ii is a left-hand helix and the groovelin' roll 61 is a right-handhelix.

'Roll'lifi is shown toh'ave'm'ourited on one 'of its ends a"lsheave B9and adjacent thereto a gear 70.] The other roll 6'! has no counterpartsheave, but does have a gear H which meshes with gear TU.

sheave 69 is connected by'belt 13 (see Fig. 1)

to another sheave i l-mounted on the machine's main drive shaft 75. .Byvirtue of this conn'e'c- .tion,. pow' er supplied "(by means "not shown)to the main drive shaft .15 energizesro'll 66 and, "in turn, roll 61,causing these rolls to rotate opposite directions. 'The grooves in theserolls are so designed that when the rollsare rotated they serve-toconvey objects resting 'thereon'from right to left (asviewed by'theread'er).

It will be noted, particularly from Figs. '2, 3

.and 5, .that 'ra pair of guide plates 'lB-"l"1 are shown) 3 supplied,the former mounted above roll 88 while the latter is mounted in betweenrolls 66-451. The purpose of these guide plates is to guide and supportthe cartridge cases CC when they are being conveyed along the movingrolls. Guide plate 16 is secured at its ends to vertical supports 88-4,respectively, by means of screws 19 (see Fig. 3). Guide plate 11 issimilarly secured to support member fill-6| by means of screws 88 (againsee Fig. 3).

The earlier mentioned chute 34 which leads from the cartridge casedischarge station F has a flange 8| which is secured to the underside oftable A by means of screws 82 (see Fig. 2). The exit end of this chute34 is fixed in required position with respect to rolls 66B| by means oflugs 83 that are fastened with screws 84 to guide plate 18 (see Figs. 2,3, 4)

A retaining plate 86 is, by means of screws 81, secured to verticalsupport member 6| as shown in Figs. 2-3. This plate serves to maintaincartridge cases CC on rolls 66-8'l until all the propellent powder hasbeen drained therefrom, as will be explained more fully below. On theside of retaining plate' 86 which faces roll 81, there are mounted astop bar 99 and a spacer bar 9|. The former is secured by means ofscrews 89, the latter by means of screws 92. The stop bar serves tolimit the downward fall of the cartridge cases as they drop from chute34, and also to jar the cases so that an initial loosening of the powdertherein results. The spacer bar serves to hold the narrowed portions ofthe cartridge cases against roll 61 in order that there be no tipping ofthe cases as they are conveyed along the rolls.

A funnel-shaped powder receiving chute 94, whose mouth is wide enough tocover substantially the entire distance over which retaining plate 86extends, is provided immediately therebelow. A continuation 95 of onewall -of chute 94 projects upwardly behind the rolls above the exitopening leading from chute 34. This continuation 95 acts as an apron toassure that any powder which may fall out of chute 34, while thecartridge cases are dropping on to the rolls, is caught by thefunnel-shaped chute 94 for delivery to an appropriate receptacle (notshown) somewhat removed from the machine for purposes of safety. As bestshown by Figs. 2-3, the funnel-shaped chute 94 is supported in the justdescribed position by its being fitted in a 'hole through the lowerframe plate I6.

Still another chute 98 is provided, this one for receiving andtransferring the emptied cartridge cases CC to an appropriate receptacle(not This chute 98 should have an adequate entrance opening to receivethe cartridge cases therein as they fall down from the rolls, and it ispreferable that this chute be mounted in contact with the adjacent sideof powder receiving chute 94 to avoid any possibility of the casesfalling between the two chutes. Further assurance in this regard isprovided by having retaining plate 86 extended beyond chute 94 over pastthe beginning of chute 98, thereby preventing the cartridge cases fromfalling off the rolls until they are in a position over the entrance tothe cartridge case receiving chute 98. The

'manner of support for case receiving chute 98 is clearly indicated inFig. as a simple bent plate of sheet metal 99 which is welded to thechute as at I89 and secured by screws Hll to the machines lower frameplate I6.

" "The operation of my improved mechanism is as follows: After thecartridges are disassembled (by means adequately described in my priorPatent 2,349,248) the cartridge cases pass through the discharge stationF (Fig. 1) down, mouth first, through chute 34 on to the rolls as shownin Figs. 2-3. The falling cases strike stop bar and the impact serves toshake loose any caked powder which may be in the cases. Having landed onthe rolls 66--B1, which are constantly rotating in opposite directionsduring the entire time the machine is in operation, the cartridge casesCC begin to move from right to left along the conveyor mechanism.Because the cases are held at the sharp angle indicated in Fig. 3, andfurther because adequate time is allowed during the traverse of thecases along the stop bar 98 and retaining plate 86 portions of theconveyor system, ample opportunity is afforded for a positive emptyingof the powder charges from the cases.

Unlike the case emptying means provided in my original machine of Patent2,349,248, this action is positive and foolproof. In my prior mechanism,difiiculty was occasionally encountered in completely emptying outcertain propellent powders, particularly those of very fine granules,which tended to stick to the insides of the cases. Another difiiculty inmy prior art device was the fact that the cases sometimes managed toturn in a position other than the required mouth-downward direction. Mypresent invention, as will be obvious, completely avoids thedifiiculties of my original device since, at all times, the empty casesare held in appropriate position for positive powder discharge.

As will be clear from reference to the drawings, the thus emptied casesare conveyed by the rolls 66-45! until they pass the free ends ofretainer plate 86 and stop bar 90. At this point, there being nothing toprevent the cartridge cases CC from sliding off the rolls, the casesdrop down (as shown in Fig. 2) through chute 98 into an appropriatereceptacle (not shown) therebelow.

From the foregoing it Will be evident that I have provided, in a machinefor separating bullets from cartridge cases and for emptying those casesof propellent powder charges contained therein, a mechanism for assuringpositive and complete emptying of the powder from all the cartridges sdisassembled; that I have provided a machine for disassemblingcartridges which will assure that when the component parts thereof aredisassociated no propellent powder will remain in the cases or will bemixed with the separated cases in the receptacle provided therefor; thatI have eliminated the safety hazard which results when the cases fromdisassembled cartridges are not entirely drained of propellent powderand as a result of which subsequent handling of the cases could resultin injury to the operator personnel through unexpected detonation of theresidual propellent charge; and that I have increased the speed anddecreased the labor with which cartridges may be disassembled.

Thus it will be seen that my inventive improvements are extension intheir adaption and are not to be restricted to the specific form heredisclosed by way of illustration. For example, the cartridge casesrepresented in the drawings are of the well-known bottle-necked militarydesign. Obviously, non-necked or other type of cases can just as readilybe acted upon by my invention. Y

I claim;

1. In a machine for separating cartridges into the projectile, case andpowder components of which each is made up, the combination of arotatable dial having cartridge-receiving notches spaced around itsperiphery, means at a feeding station for placing cartridges in saidnotches with their case heads down and their projectile ends up, meansat a pulling station for separating said projectiles from said cartridgecases while the latter are still in said notches, an ejector at adischarge station for pushin each of said cartridge cases from the dialnotch by which it is carried in such a way that it falls mouth-end-downout of said notch, a stop bar for abruptly limiting the fall of saidcartridge cases, a pair of revolving rolls arranged so that a tangentthereto would form a sharp decline for supporting said cases at a sharpangle mouth-end-down while conveying them some distance from the pointwhere they originally strike said stop bar, a powder receiving chute, acase receiving chute, and a retaining member which serves to keep thecases on the rolls over a length of travel adequate to permit the powderto drain from the cases down said powder receiving chute after which thecases are unrestrained and permitted to, fall down saidcase receivingchute by action of gravity.

2. In a machine for separating cartridges into the projectile, case andpowder components of which each is made up, the combination of arotatable dial having cartridge-receiving notches spaced around itsperiphery, means at a feeding station for placing cartridges in notches,means at a pulling station for separating said projectiles from saidcartridges while the latter are still in said dial notches, means at adischarge station for ejecting each of said cartridge cases mouth enddown from the dial notch by which it is carried, means for jarring eachso ejected case to shake loose the powder contents thereof, conveyormeans for supporting the ejected cases at a sharp angle mouth-enddownand thus moving them a distance adequate to allow for the powdercontents to drain therefrom by action of gravity, and a retaining meansfor keeping the cases on the conveyor means while the powder is drainingtherefrom, where' upon the emptied cases are allowed to fall from theconveyor means by action of gravity.

3. In a cartridge disassembling machine, a positive cartridge caseemptying device, including, a helically grooved driving roll, at leastone helically grooved driven roll geared to said drivn.

ing roll so that rotation of the driving roll causes rotation of thedriven roll, said driven roll mounted parallel to the driving r011 sothat a tangent to the two rolls would form a sharp decline, and aretaining plate serving to hold for a portion of their travel therealongthe cartridge cases that drop onto said rolls mouth end downsaid ward sothat as the cases are conveyed along by the moving rolls the casecontents will fall out prior to a point past the retaining plate whenthe cases will drop off the rolls by action of gravity.

4. In a cartridge disassembling machine, a positive cartridge caseemptying device, including, a helically grooved driving roll, meansassociated with the machines drive mechanism for rotating said drivingroll, a helically grooved driven roll geared to said driving roll sothat rotation of the driving roll causes rotation of the driven roll,said driven roll mounted parallel to the driving roll so that they coactto form a horizontally moving but declined conveyor, and a retainingplate for holding during a portion of their travel therealong thecartridge cases that drop onto said rolls mouth end downward so that asthe cases are conveyed along by the moving rolls the case contents willfall out prior to a point past the retaining plate when the cases willdrop ofi the rolls by action of gravity.

5. In a cartridge disassembling machine, a positive cartridge caseemptying device, including, conveyor means for supporting cartridgecases at a sharp angle mouth-end-down and for thus moving them a desireddistance in a substantially horizontal direction, guide means foradditionally supporting and guiding said cartridge cases on saidconveyor means, and retaining means for holding the cartridge cases onthe conveyor means during part of their travel therealong withoutobstructing the case mouths so that the case contents can fall out priorto a point past the retaining plate when gravity will cause the cases todrop oil said conveyor means.

6. In a machine for disassembling bottlenecked cartridge cases, apositive cartridge case emptying device, including, conveyor means forsupporting cartridge cases at a sharp angle mouth-end-down and for thusmoving them a desired distance in a substantially horizontal direction,a spacer member for holding the necked portion of the cartridge casesagainst said conveyor means in order to avoid tipping of the cases asthey are moved by said conveyor, and retaining means for holding thecartridge cases on the conveyor means during part of their traveltherealong without obstructing the case mouths so that the case contentscan fall out prior to a point past the retaining plate when gravity willcause the cases to drop off said conveyor means.

FRANK E. COSTELLO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 635,072 Hurd Oct. 17, 18992,349,248 Costello May 23, 1944

